


Out in the Cold

by angstytimelord



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 19:12:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13441410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstytimelord/pseuds/angstytimelord
Summary: Will is relieved that his quest to put Hannibal behind bars has finally succeeded. But at the same time, he has to acknowledge that he feels more isolated than ever.





	Out in the Cold

Will's teeth chattered as he made his way from his car to the front porch of his house, bounding up the steps to the door, his keys already out.

He was looking forward to getting inside, to sitting down on his couch, petting the dogs, and making a cup of hot tea to relax after a long day of teaching at the FBI Academy.

And he was looking forward to an evening of peace and quiet.

After all that he'd been through in dealing with Hannibal, peace didn't seem like something that he could easily find. But he was surprised to discover that it came more easily to him than he'd expected.

Now that he had the comfort of knowing that Hannibal was behind bars, he could let himself relax. He didn't have to worry that Hannibal was coming for him, that the monster who still haunted his uneasy dreams at night would show up at his door. He no longer had to be in that unsettling presence. 

All of that was over, and he was glad of it. But still .... he drew in a sharp breath as a thought occurred to him that made him hesitate in the act of putting the key into the lock.

He was isolated here. He was alone. He was .... _lonely_.

He was out in the cold, in more ways than one. At least when he'd had Hannibal in his life, he'd had a reason to use his mind, to keep going, to drive himself forward.

Now, all he had was his teaching. He loved that, of course, and he was good at it. But .... he wasn't working with Jack's team any more, and he felt even more isolated mentally than he was physically. That isolation was starting to wear on him, making him wish that things had been different.

What good would that do him? Will asked himself, turning the key and swinging the door wide. The dogs poured out, eager to go outside and run around before he fed them.

Will turned to look at his pets, the six of them romping in the snow. They looked as though they didn't have a care in the world, and maybe they didn't. Ah, to be a dog.

He himself was having to face a truth that was, to say the least, unpalatable. He didn't want to believe that he could possibly _miss_ Hannibal's presence in his life. Ever since their first meeting, that presence had unsettled him, turned his life upside down, and caused him irreparable harm.

But what if Hannibal had been a different kind of person? What if the friendship that had been such an illusion had actually been _real_? What would have happened then?

He didn't wanted to let his mind muse over that possibility.

What was his problem? Why was he thinking of Hannibal like this, almost as though they actually friends, as Hannibal had tried to pretend for so long, instead of abuser and victim?

Will shook his head, wishing that he could shake away this feeling and be done with it. But it persisted; the longer that he stood out here in the frigid air, waiting for the dogs to tire of romping and come back to the house, the more he felt that he was out in the cold in every way.

When Hannibal had been sent to jail, he had lost the one person in his life who had ever even slightly understood him. And he had to admit that losing that understanding hurt a great deal.

Still, he also couldn't deny that Hannibal was right where he belonged.

And he was relieved by that fact, even while he missed having someone around who really knew him, someone who could understand the darkness that prowled within his soul.

Will took a deep breath of the frosty air, and then another. He wasn't going to let himself give in to that darkness within him, as Hannibal had. That was the difference between them. He wouldnt let that darkness control him, and ultimately destroy him. Hannibal had already been swallowed up by it.

He had avoided succumbing to that fate, even if it _did_ mean that he might end up spending the rest of his life feleing as though he'd somehow been left out in the cold.

That was the price he paid for being who he was.

One by one, the dogs came back to the porch, and Will held the door open for them to go inside. Soon, they would all be inside, and he'd start a fire to warm them all while he made dinner.

At least in one way, he had come in from the cold, he thought, a small smile quirking his lips as he entered the house after the last dog had made his way inside.

Somehow, that was enough. He would _make_ it be enough.

Because really, given the place he was at in his life, he had no other alternative.


End file.
